Jason Arday, Author and Cambridge’s Youngest Black Professor, Resigns Amid Plagiarism Allegations

Arday is scheduled to release his memoir, ‘Great and Unfortunate Things,’ on Aug. 11

NEED TO KNOW

• Jason Arday, an author and the University of Cambridge’s youngest Black professor, resigned from the institution amid plagiarism allegations

• The university announced an investigation “following new information about Professor Arday’s academic qualifications and honorary appointments,” according to a statement
• Arday is set to publish his memoir Great and Unfortunate Things on Aug. 11

Jason Arday, an author and academic who made history as the youngest Black professor at the University of Cambridge, has resigned from the institution amid plagiarism allegations. 

Arday announced on Wednesday, Aug. 5 that he was leaving his position at the university, and its constituent Jesus College, effective immediately in a statement posted to Good Law Project. His decision came after the University of Cambridge announced an investigation “following new information about Professor Arday’s academic qualifications and honorary appointments.”

“When I accepted the extraordinary honor of becoming Professor of Sociology at Cambridge, it was, without question, the greatest professional privilege of my life,” Arday said in his statement.

“Sadly, the years since my appointment have also been marked by an unrelenting level of public scrutiny and personal attack,” he continued. “While criticism is an inevitable part of academic life, what I have experienced has gone far beyond scholarly disagreement. The relentless accusations, speculation and public commentary have taken a profound toll on me and on those I love.”

Arday’s appointment to Cambridge’s faculty in 2023 drew initial attention from the British press. Born in 1985 to Ghanaian immigrant parents in South London, Arday was diagnosed with autism at age three, and was nonverbal until he was nearly 12 years old. He didn’t learn to read or write until his late teens, and was also diagnosed with conditions including deafness, dyslexia and dyscalculia. 

Then 37, Arday was also the youngest Black professor in Cambridge’s centuries-long history. 

But in the past few years, Arday has faced questions concerning his academic work. Private discussions about Arday’s scholarship began as early as 2023, per The New York Times. Those conversations became more publicized in July, when Nathan Cofnas — a former Cambridge researcher who exited the university in 2024 after protests over his controversial critiques of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives — published excerpts from Arday’s 2015 PhD dissertation in his newsletter. According to Cofnas, the excerpts were flagged by a plagiarism detection software, which found similarities with another scholar’s 2009 dissertation.

The University of Cambridge initially cleared Arday of wrongdoing after the allegations were “thoroughly investigated by the relevant institution and the journals in question,” a representative for Arday confirmed to PEOPLE (Liverpool John Moores University, where Arday received his doctorate, reviewed the allegations). A petition supporting Arday garnered thousands of signatures, including from five members of Parliament from the U.K. Labour Party. 

But a slew of new allegations have recently emerged. In a July 31 article, The Times referenced a July 24 analysis of Arday’s 2015 thesis, in which it reported multiple identical or near-identical passages to the 2021 dissertation of Brunel University student Paula Zwozdiak-Myers.

In an interview for that same Times article, Arday attributed early errors in his work to receiving “inadequate” support given his “complex learning disabilities.” The July 31 Times story also included side-by-side examples of similarities between some of Arday’s work with that of other scholars.

“I am accountable for the mistakes I’ve made. I hold myself accountable and other people should hold me accountable. We’re talking about academia here,” Arday said in his July 31 interview with The Times. “I didn’t murder somebody. I think the cruelty that I’ve experienced and the positioning of me as this kind of liar and fantasist is totally unacceptable.”

Jack Grove, a journalist for Times Higher Education, wrote in an Aug. 6 Times article that he was contacted by the Metropolitan Police in February after he reached out to Arday about the plagiarism allegations. Grove was told not to contact Arday again “because it was affecting his mental health.”

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In an Aug. 5 statement, the University of Cambridge said it would provide no further comment to “ensure a fair process.”

“While we are fully aware of the public commentary and concerns around this matter, it remains vital that any process is thorough and adheres to both University policies and employment law,” the statement continued. “We also fully recognize that there is a person at the center of this situation, and we continue to provide support to him.”

Arday is scheduled to release his memoir, Great and Unfortunate Things, in the United States on Aug. 11, through Simon & Schuster imprint 37 Ink. The book recounts Arday’s challenging childhood and his path to academia. 

In the weeks leading up to the memoir’s publication, additional elements of Arday’s story have been called into question. One example is his participation in fundraising marathons, where Arday claims to have raised around 5 million British pounds for charity. He says he achieved this through events like running 30 marathons in 35 days. Arday later told The Guardian that the money was raised with a group over multiple years, and said he had signed a non-disclosure agreement barring him from revealing the names of other individuals who were part of that group. 

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Other aspects of Arday’s biography were called into question, including Arday’s employment at the University of Glasgow — which confirmed he never held a visiting professorship position at the institution — and his involvement with a nonprofit called WaterAid.

In a statement shared with The Times, Simon & Schuster stood by their support of Arday. 

“We have worked closely with Professor Jason Arday on Great and Unfortunate Things since acquiring it and can speak to the professionalism and integrity he has brought to every stage of the publication,” the publisher stated. “He worked closely with his co-writer [Eve Claxton], as well as our editorial and legal teams, to carefully research, write and corroborate the narrative.”

PEOPLE has reached out to representatives for Arday for comment.

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